Hate preacher Anjem Choudary says French provoked atrocities against their country

HATE PREACHER: Choudary blames the French for terror attacks against their nation

The cocky radical also boasted he was sure to escape a prison sentence because he had not done “anything illegal”.

And he mocked the case against him, claiming police were “just chancing their arm”.

But last month, Choudary, 49, was convicted of inviting support for Isis in a series of radical online lectures.

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CARNAGE: The truck used to kill 84 people in Nice

The preacher is currently being held in Belmarsh high-security prison in south east London awaiting sentence on September 6.

“They (the French) are blind to what might have provoked people”

Anjem Choudary

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Star Sunday before the end of his Old Bailey trial, the father-of-five:

● Suggested a series of recent terror attacks in France were a result of the country “provoking” Muslims.

● Bragged that he would be found innocent of “inviting support for a proscribed organisation” under the Terrorism Act 2000.

● Predicted he would be free within days.

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COCKY RADICAL: Choudary says the police are ‘just chancing their arm’ with the case against him

Speaking just days after Father Jacques Hamel was murdered by a pair of Isis knifemen during mass in his Normandy church, Choudray blamed France for meddling in Middle Eastern and North African affairs and introducing laws to control Muslims.

He said: “The French public need to take stock of what has happened in North Africa. “Their forces in Mali, their involvement in Morocco and Algeria, Libya, and the forces in Syria and Iraq.

“Domestically as well. Their laws in relation to the niqab, their cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, if you take all of that together you start to understand the kind of feeling Muslims might have towards the French and their own state and its policies.

“Nobody is saying this is an excuse to carry out an attack against a priest in Normandy, drive a truck down a highway in Nice, but those people that want to target them will obviously find that they (the French) are at the top of the list of perceived enemies for Muslims.

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IN OUR PRAYERS: A makeshift memorial in tribute to the victims of the deadly Bastille Day

If you want to come out of this quagmire and cycle of violence then you really need to start addressing these issues.

“They (the French) are blind to what might have provoked people.”

The London-born Islamist also predicted he would soon be freed, boasting: “I’m pretty much going to continue as I did before with a gap.

“All the things we were calling for…there’s no reason to stop as we weren’t doing anything illegal.

Pray for Nice: The world pays tribute to victims of Bastille Day attack

People across the world lay tribute to the victims of the Bastille day attacks in Nice

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A general view shows the crowd gathering on the Promenade des Anglais during a minute of silence on the third day of national mourning to pay tribute to victims of the truck attack in Nice

“The police are just chancing their arm by making this a freedom of speech issue.”

Choudary, a former Southampton University student who indulged in casual sex, used porn and tried LSD and cannabis – all strictly prohibited under Islam – was found guilty alongside his co-accused, Mizanur Rahman, 33.

He faces up to ten years in prison. During their trial the jury heard Choudary, had sworn an oath of allegiance to Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an east London pub after “Muslim rule” was declared in the Middle East.

The court heard they then urged Muslims to “make hijrah”, meaning to travel to Isis-occupied lands.